there will be scars most likely to a while. i was talking to a specialist, those scars may not look like what we saw forever, but there will likely be some scars forever, but chapses are she's not in pain. the pain goes away after a shorter period of time. >> she looks great, she's back at work and we wish her the best. >> hats off to her. this is what you need to know for your financials. couple with an income of less

than $450,000, they escape any income tax hikes. theite emized deductions are capped for anyone who makes $250,000 or more, or combined with $350,000. estate taxes will go up, for inheritances over $5 million. unemployment insurance is extended for a year, the alternative minimum tax will get a permanent adjustment for inflation. that, my friends is just the start of all of this. that is a 16.4 trillion debt ceiling which is likely to stir up another ugly fight. president obama is already positioning. >> i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up through the laws they

passed. we can't not pay bills we have already incurred. if congress refuses to give the united states government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be cat stenographic, far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff. let's bring in brianna keilar. a lot of people are talking about winners and losers, but c'mon, i feel like we're all losers in this, considering we didn't get a deal, we just got a patch. >> reporter: that is true. i don't think it's ever really healthy for americans when you're kind of going through this process every year, whether it's the a.m.t. fix or tax cuts, so i think the fact that those tax cuts were permanently extended actually is a good

thing, because it is difficult when they aren't, but yeah, i think that you look at especially now the environment of things as this is a congress that the president wants to undertake other issues like immigration reform and gun violence, and you can see how it even maybe has a pleefover effect as they try to get their business done in a limited amount of time. the question is now that i hear that a f-bomb was at the white house and i won't say whom, it doesn't sound like there will be a better tenor going forward. is the white house actually considering this a victory? >> reporter: i will tell you, ashleigh, i think the white house considers how this fight went for them, the president was more effective than, say, during

the debt ceiling. i think the tone we got during the debt ceiling was president obama was trying to position himself as a reasonable adult in the room, that he was trying to achieve somebody, and remember we saw him in the briefing room the day before this deal was sealed -- or the day before it passed the senate, and he was very hard on republicans. i think we're seeing him taking a harder tack. i think that will continue into the fight over the debt ceiling. the thing that the whi house doesn't like is they feel like a lot of this stuff is so unnecessary. this isn't something that ultimately. he can put that he extended a tax cut for the middle class, and that should be considered an achievement for him, but dealing with the debt ceiling, these aren't huge sweeping achievements he can say, look, i did something amazing. if it's something like entitlement reform, tax reform, that might be an achievement, but patching these things that

have become almost catastrophic things that could happen is, in their estimation, sort of a waste of time. >> yeah, congratulations, we just didn't fail bigger. it's frustrating to have this conversation. that you you very much for that. not only does congress have to deal with the debt ceiling next month. they also have to deal with the sequester, remember that series of cuts in federal spending that will reduce most budgets about 8% to 10%. last night's deal basically kicked automatic that down the road. and then there's also the budget so-called continuing resolution, and congress has to pass another budget so that our entire government just doesn't shut down on us. if congress doesn't get its act together fast we'll be in a similar situation before we know it.

the congressman-elect from florida joins us. my first question, sir, is are you looking forward for joining this group of legislators, given this despicable state of paralysis. >> this is a new congress i'm joining. the 112th congress, this is definitely disheartening, but it's not a surprise. the new congress, about 90 new members, all elected on a message of bipartisan, so the freshmen i have met all want to do something big, we want to do the big choices, so i'm excited to join this congress. >> what do you consider one of the big choices? everything will have to hurt. where are you prepared to hurt? >> you're right, it will have to be across the board. what we just did is a bain aid. i'm very disappointed. we are continuing to kick the can down the road. it's just not right.

we're not putting our children and grandchildren in a strong position. unfortunately we have to look at cuts across the board. we'll have to look at defense, some structural changes to some programs like social security and medicare, we have to look at fraud, waste and abuse. i'm a cpa by training. i want to bring that training by congress and gull through every single line item. >> cpa business is one thing, it's real mathematical. what about the politics of it all. we saw republicans breaking ranksened add causing serious consternation. are you prepared to break ranks with the democrats you're joining? >> you're joining a lot of old dogs at this. are you prepared to break away and saying this is not the way it should be done. >> the voters are paying attention. we won because of the support from the republicans, but voters are paying attention. i came to congress to do what's best for all americans. >> i know all that.

i love hearing it, but i want to know where you think we can make painful cuts. where are you going to show some leadership? >> well, i just said it, i think we'll have to make some structure changes to programs such as social security, medicare, medicaid. you know, our president put that on the table about a year ago when this whole process began with the sequestration, so it's going to be across the board. revenues and look at some expenses that we have to cut. this is math. it shouldn't be partisan politics. it comes down to math. and do you have any optimism -- let's talk about the debt ceiling. do you have optimism we'll be able to do anything differently that is what we saw transpire? itches i'm optimistic about the new congress, about the 90 new members. like i said, we are all elected, but what we saw the last few

days is frustrating. we need new blood, new life, new energy. i'm optimistic, but i'm going to keep fighting. >> and how do you feel about this notion there seems to be a congratulatory tone just to avoid armageddon? how do you feel about joining a group that effectively created a disaster and then didn't really even solve that disaster? >> there should be no congratulations in order. i don't want to say this is the worst-case scenario, but what just happened is not what should have happened. there would be no congratulations in order. we need to sit down almost from scratch and look at it with a fresh lens and get our traffic on the right track. you can look across the world, so many countries, you look at china, they're slowing down, europe is in a radio session. south america has slowed down.

america has a chance to become and stay the global leader for generations to come if we make the tough choices right now. >> you might have some tough choices to make on hurricane sandy, because boy oh boy there's a storm brewing there. grant lace on the new job. >> thank you. for more details on who will pay and how much tax, you can just go to cnnmoney.com. so there's real outrage, i just mentioned it to the congressman. house leaders failed to vote on much-needed aid for the people who sunday through this, hurricane sandy, its aftermath, its flooding. house republicans adjourned last night without acting on legislation that would have approved the money. a whole bunch of states waiting on this. the senate approved a $60 billion package last year.

the house 'failure to vote on it threw really loud protests from lawmakers from new jersey, connecticut, new york. by the way, peter king just spoke with my colleague, cnn's victor blackwell. have a listen to this sweetheart. >> absolutely devastating. what was most galling about this is within ten days of katrina, we gladly voted $60 billion. it's now nine weeks since sandy struck long island, new york, new jersey, a and we have not gotten a penny from the united states congress. we played by the rules as i said last night, governor christie, governor cuomo, we met with eric cantor, who by the way, kept his word throughout this, and the bill was drawn. we were promised that it would come up yet. we provided every penny of documentation, and the speaker of the house of representatives

walked off the floor, didn't even give us a courtesy of a notice, told as ann -- -- so there's some dysfunction in the leadership, the speaker for some reason is taking it out on new york, long island and new jersey, speaker boehner is the one. he walked off the floor, refused to tell us why, refused to give under the circumstances any indication of warning whatsoever, and eric cantor met with us throughout the week, he devised the strategy how to bring it to the floor to make it acceptable to let the republicans who wanted to vote against parts of the bill, they could do that, but the bill was going to pass. the bottom line is here. the republican speaker walked off the floor without allows the vote. i'm just saying these people have no problem finding new york, these republicans, when they're trying to raise money. they raised millions in new york and new jersey. they send governor christie around the country. i'm saying anyone from new york or new jersey who contributes one penny to the republican national campaign committee

should have their head examined. i would not give one penny based on what they did last night. i believe a true republican principle, but turning your back on people who are starving and freezing is not a republican value. i was chasing the house speaker around the floor all night, and he kept saying wait until the fiscal cliff vote is over, and he refused to meet with us. he yelled at congressman lobianco saying i'm not going to meet with you people. he just decided to sneak off in the middle of the night. those are strong words, and he said speaker boehner better not come to new york. wow. unbelievable. so with that in mind, how speaker may be getting that message. a senior aide has just told cnn that the speaker will make this his first priority, this

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i want to turn to the city of newtown, connecticut. sandy hook elementary students go back to class tomorrow. they're going to finish off the rest of this year at a school nearby in monroe, connecticut. their old building now closed indefinitely after this horrid rend out shooting last month in which six teachers were killed and 20 students. in the wake of this newtown incident there's other news to report as well. armed guards will be at every

elementary middle and high school in marlboro, new jersey. perhaps the sign of the times. you're looking at live pictures at this hour. the announcement all because he wants the entire amount of the $60 million fine that penn state received from the ncaa, he wants that to stay in the state. that money was because of the gerry sandusky sex scandal, but only about 25% will be disbur disbursed. the slated 75% of the money to help child sex abuse victims again will be spend outside the state of pennsylvania. and then take a look at your video. just remarkable. a sled going across the ice, and then the man falling through a

frozen lake in rightwood, california. the tape was rolling. thej people coming to the edge of thin ice, and you go through. again -- well, you know how this ends. the ice stays thin, no matter how many people go on it. this became a calamity, but luckily, one of the people who had a rope -- they were able to get them out of the frigid waters. but remarkable. take a listen to this. >> i ran up to the car, god the rope, ran back downed, uncoiled it, threw it out. i was coming up about seven feet short. at that point ear people started running cargo straps to the

rope. i ran up to the top of the hill and called 911. >> that was mickey herman, who had the rope. people taking off their dry clothes and trying to help those people who were frigid in those waters. it took almost nine minutes. just put your hand in an ice cold glass of water, see if you can keep it in there nine minutes. anywhere now stating the lake will be closed until april. a christmas day to remember for a lot of those folks. thin ice, stay off it. back to the fiscal cliff for a minute. there's a lot to get your head around. there's politics, the legislation, the new tax code. pretty thick stuff, but there are some extremely tangible things that will hit you, like if you get a paycheck. chris teem romans joins me to

talk about what every american needs to know. >> what will happened is you will be paying more to pay for social security. if i make $25,000 a year, it's $42 a month. if you make $50,000, $83 a month. if you make $75,000 a year, $125 more a month. you get the picture. that's real money that's maybe two tanks of gas, so the payroll tax will be a bite. so now, you know, you need to prepare your budget for that. the next three big things, i call them tli more fiscal cliffs. we may have averted uncertain

doom, but we have three decisions to make. everyone hears that term sequester, it just means huge spending cuts. we have the sequester, probably the beginning of january. probably right at the same time you have the spending cuts, the sequest sequester, the debt ceiling, and the budget resolution. that's through march. break it down for me. just to get through the sequester what will they have to deal with? >> making decisions about cuts and about budget priors is what got us in this mess in the first place, quite frankly. i want to read something that one of the these analysts told us is so fascinating. talking about the drama and the chaos around this. the process was so kay outic, we're likely to see a further u.s. downgrade, meaning there

will be so many opportunities for washington to show us how they can't compromise and really get on a sustained path to, you know, budgeting. what is more fundamental at your house than the budget? what comes? what goes out, and the priorities that you make based on that budget, paying for college or paying for a new car? paying for this or that? paying down debt or getting a bigger house? washington can't do that. washington has shown it can't do that. that's why international investors -- >> but they are good at doing interviews -- i'm not singling anyone out, trust me. >> you don't have to. >> i know. happy new year. >> you too. we have more to ta about later on. wight a lot more coming up. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,

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so just quickly, a segment we ran about peter king livid with rep leadership over the failure to pass this relief package last night in congress that would have helped these victims. i mentioned he said boehner better stay out of new york. he wasn't actually suggesting the -- he was refer to hal rogers, who had made the argument that fema's got enough money to hold this over, this problem for the hurricane sandy victims, at least for a cup the months. peter ring was angry with roger and how roger better stay out of new york. he can suck up to the speaker if he has to, but he can stay out of new york, raise your money in kentucky, and a quick correct,

and apology there. no shortage of political drama the same discord that led to the fiscal cliff in the first pla place, by vice president biden and senator mcconnell crafted this and it got through. roy blunt of missouri joins us, a member of the senate appropriations committee, vice charm of is the senate republican conference and also a member of the senate republican whip team. thank you for joining us. i would like to be a fly on the wall on the next republican conference meeting as you try to whip. how is that going to go?

>> i think the next fight will be about spending. it would have been better to get all these things done this year. i how do you start the spending cu cuts, we all knowing that. i think generally republicans in that senate at least, the tax agreement we made was about as good an agreement as you could get with a president absolutely committed to raising the tom of top rate. that means almost every american will not see much of an impact by tax policies, except they now

know that the tax laws are as permanent as tax laws can ever be, instead of temporary. >> let me ask about the schisms, though, in your party. eric cantor did not. other prominent republicans did not. >> well, at the end of the day what needed to get done got done. >> it doesn't get done. i have to differ with you there. nothing got done. >> no, no, the tax policies that all went up yesterday are not all going to go up. there was $3.8 trillion tax increase that went into effect at midnight yesterday. that didn't happen. so don't say nothing got done. >> you have a lot coming up.

that's why i'm asking you. >> one, we need a senate that functions, a senate that does appropriations bills. and a president that leads, and all of those things need to happen, should happen. we've got to find spending cuts. we've gotten to a point where i hope we can stay at on tax policy. now we need to get to spending policy. >> not to bead a dead horse here, but you just had peter king in the last two hours sc e excorating the speaker, is that a temporary problem, or does it speak to a bigger problem? your party? >> it's always bad when you have people saying stay out of town. that's not a good thing. >> and that the republicans turn their back on the people. that's bad, too.

>> i said this repeatedly bell over a week, will the house pass a $60 billion bill? and i said, no. the house might pass a $25 billion, but sometimes when you ask for too much, you don't get anything. there's a way to do emergency relief. we should do it, it needs to happen. i voted for money in the senate that would have gotten us to the end of march, money we know has to be spent. i think the 60 billion was too much. this is a problem where people have to believe is what you're asking for is what you absolutely need. nobody can spend that $60 billion. eventually we may spend more, but let's spend it when we know what it is rather than when we're guessing what it is. >> i wish you good luck with that. >> i hope -- >> there are a lot of people hurting up here in new york and these states. >> i agree. we've had disasters in our state and we dealt with them with

disaster relief and came back and dealt with them in the regular appropriations process and we'll do that again with sandy. >> some the interim i promised that our audience would hear the back-door negotiations, can you give me your sense of what mitch mcconnell and joe biden were doing and how they were able to effectively get this vote for go this way? >> i think that think got any deal at all in less than 72 hours on this big an issue is incredible. they both deserve credit for that. i think we all deserve blame for not solving more of the problem before a new congress gets here. one of the most unfair things is to we couldn't deal with it, you said you could dole with it during the campaign, so let's see if you were right or not. i think that's unfortunate. mitch mcconnell, joe biden got together, they made something

happen almost out of nothing in a way that extends current tax policies for 99% of all americans and makes them permane permanent. that's a good thing. now let's. did luck with the new group and with the swearing-in as this week continues. senator, i appreciate your time and your candor. to a complete breakdown, how each of the senators and each of the congressmen decided to vote, go to cnn.com/politics.

got a couple other stories making news this hour. the coast guard says that oil

rig that ran aground in alaska is luckily stable, not leaking. during the tow to seattle, it required the crew to cut the lines. bad weather has kept the crews from being able to re-board that rig. more than 800 people in minnesota and the art of swimming in winter. this is the annual polar bear plunge, an event that help two charities. one for suicide awareness. minnesota want the only place. in north carolina, there they go. this is the polar bears braving the waters. before they ended up in the water they decided to gather those who were killed in the mass shooting at sandy hook, so a lot of reasons for them to brave the cold. brand-new club opening its stores in the mile-high city. the first pot club in colorado.

gets its name from amendment 64, the amendment that made recreational use of marijuana legal in the state. the club is private, and it's open to members who pay $30 and a fee. >> you can come in here, you can bring marijuana, you can share marijuana. this club is what the voters of colorado finally wanted. they wanted adults to be able to get together and exercise or freedoms, together. >> so it's still another year before stores sell marijuana and will be legally allowed to do so in the state of california. one more breaking news piece, this one courtesy of the white house, just bear with me. effectively the white house is calling on congress to go ahead and hold a vote today on the sandy relief bill. the issue has caused such consternation.

however, the speaker decided not to hold that vote last night, which led congressman peter king of new york to almost go ballistic. so there you have it, the white house saying our citizens are city trying to put their lives together. and asking congress to hold that vote today. so stay tuned, we'll find out if there's reaction from congress. glucerna hunger smart shakes.s they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

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so did you think after coming off an election year, you would have a chance to exhale? think against. there's three more -- we've joined to talk about his favorite five. it's so tough, break it down. the coming budget fights will make it look like nothing. we have three big events th will be happening now almost

simultaneously. remember the sequester, 110 billions in blunt automatic spending cuts. well, that legislation that passed yesterday, that just put it off for 60 days, so 60 days from now we have in a hitting. >> and we couldn't deal with it in 517 days, but now we have 60. >> right. it's absurd. the whole opponent of doing it in the first place was to force them to deal with it. well, they didn't deal with it. that's going to coincide with the fight over the resolution that funds it expiring. remember, we had this big showdown over a potential government shutdown. well, we're going to have another one happening in the same time frame. if that continuing resolution doesn't get passed or continued, the government shuts down. >> terrific. >> and this is biggest, ash, the debt ceiling. we hit the debt ceiling sometime in the next two to three monday.

>> number three, the supreme court, we could have a vacancy, and we will certainly have big affirmative action case that will decide the future of affirmative action. >> and boehner versus cantor. >> a lot of people have been answering it almost rhetorically, is boehner's seat safe as we sign on these new members of congress. what do you think? >> it's safe. i don't think anyone wants that job. it's an impossible job, but what happened when -- it exposed a rift not just in leadership in the house, but in the republican

party. you have marco rubio, eric cantor and other prominent republicans voting one way. people like boehner and paul ryan voting another. you wouldn't say disarray, but they're sort of reinventing themselves. >> and last 45 seconds, hillary, i know she's in the hospital, we're all pulling for her, but there's the talk of 2016. is it just us talking. >> i hate to bring up 2016, but the truth is these things start right away. you know, she can walk into that democratic primary it looks like now, and probably win it, so once her health gets better, she has some major, major decisions to make. everyone will be watching. >> and we will all be reading your work. happy new year's, so i'll say it today. >> happy new year's, ashe. aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup

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try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. i have great news for you. investors apparently quite encouraged by the fiscal cliff deal reached. things are really looking up, way, way up.

what we're seeing happen on the board here today, it's exactly what we expected. they're on top of how the dow did. and this, of course, is all because of the deal to avert the fiscal cliff. all 30 of the stocks that ma they happened to be two of the worst performers from 2012. so maybe some bargain hunting going on. bank stocks are looking good right now. they touched a new 52-squeak high, so everything is up today of the almost 3,000 stocks that trade here, less than 200 are trading lower, so a strong way to begin the year. the question is, will it last?

>> oh, you. i knew you were going to bring that up, you mean the three other fiscal cliffs we have to deal with? alison kosik, gosh. >> just the little details, you know, like the spending cuts and debt ceiling debate. >> you're still the most adorable person on wall street, in my opinion. >> you know what's funny is there's one analyst who says congress has all right done the the debt limit -- the day they're rallies, but this is on the back of their minds. >> good to see you. happy new year. how big a rally will we see? we'll keep an eye on the big boards, and we'll be right back.

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at that moment it was like a light bulb went off. it was, wow, look at the tunlts that i have. most people would give their soul to have what i have. >> eric survived the chopping block and won $10,000, but more importantly he's survived cancer five times. he was first diagnosed when he was 29 years old. >> after i had had cancer for the fifth tide, i wanted something to remind me every day of life. so the 5 on the outside represents the if i ha5 times i cancer. you take responsibility for your happiness and your action says and what you do in life. if you pass that on to one person every day. good afternoon, ladies. how are you? how are you enjoying your dining experience so far? >> he's now 43 and using his newfound celebrity to inspire and push others to reach their full potential, and he begins right in his own kitchen.

>> throughout the kitchen we have different phrases for different signs and different things, which i think is important to our well-being in the kitchen. the mindset of the kitchen. the stems cut it off. >> he shares his culinary and cancer survival experiences at events held at his restaurant as well as when he lends time to the american cancer society. >> it's about paying guaforward a good cause and very involved in the american cancer society. >> in the end he says fight the fight, do what you love v day, and above all have some fun. >> i think the fun factor is what it's about, besides the hokey-pok hokey-pokey. i look at me and go, okay. i get it. i'm not winning any sexiest man of the year awards, but i'm the happiest person on the universe. >> dr. gupta reporting.

so hard to believe it was more than 11 years ago that america was just fundamentally changed on 9/11. thousands killed, but also thousands of people were hurt. among a lot of those brave first responders were real everyday people, just people who rushed in to help and do anything they could. now they want to be included in congress's $2.8 billion

compensation funtd, because they got sick from breathing in toxic dust they say. they're told no. there are the figures, why the roadblock. defense attorney joey jackson is joining me talk about this. why would they turn away anybody who was a good samaritan on 9/11 and has cancer? >> it's so true. it's a question of proof. people who were there and served and so many first responders helped to keep people safe. it changed how we live, think and communicate. it was a terrible day. we'll just never forget it. but the issue is whether people who were volunteers there could in good faith prove that they were volunteering. >> what kind of proof are you talking about? we're talking about evidence in a civil case? >> yes. unfortunately, there's so many people honest and well that's not unfortunate. what's unfortunate is you have the few very who might fabricate. so what happens is a compensation fund says, listen,

we understand you may have ailments. we understand you may have been there, and we certainly want to assist you as you assisted us. however, we need two affidavits sworn to and signed by two witnesses who observed, a, that you were there, and b, the nature of the work doing. the problem is because it was so long ago, people have moved away and people are no longer there. people who are really sick are having very bad problems finding someone who could establish that they were there and assist with that. >> if i can't find two people because i have a photograph, somebody took a picture of me covered in the dust or lifted some of the debris, is that sufficient evidence? >> it could be. what ends up happening is it's like any court of law, right? ultimately what happens, not that this is a court of law, a compensation fund established to mete out these claims. >> the standards are similar? >> exactly. similar standards, the but you have to show some proof. if it makes sense you would think the people overseeing it are inclined toe make out the

claim. you need proof because there are those few who seek to take advantage and you want to ensure the integrity of this fund. >> what you say so true, just after the shootings in newtown there are allegations this woman in new york set up a fake donation fund to rake in money for herself in the false name of one of the victim' family members. the new york city health department said there's no association between cancer and 9/11 and the dust at 9/11. does that factor in here as well? for those who do stay have the evidence, do they have to prove that their sickness is because of it? >> it won't, and here's why. congress what they did is listen, cancer takes a long time to develop. they approved 50 cancers which you can't establish resulted from 9/11 but could be. because it takes a while to evolve, congress said if you can establish you have those, even if there's no causal connection, we pay out the claim. you have to have proof. >> i have ten